A New Relationship with Christmas

I recently sat in a living room with several other Christian women who meet once a month to learn more about healthy living.  As an icebreaker for this meeting, the hostess asked us to share how we keep things in perspective during the busy holiday season, as well as special traditions our families had.  I realized how this question would have stressed me terribly a few years ago.  When my turn came, I related that I did not have a great deal of experience yet, (long story) but we make an effort to give Jesus the gifts, to the “least of these”,  rather than go crazy on junk no one needs, wants, or remembers this time next year.   As the sharing moved around the room, one woman began to explain why they were not going to celebrate Christmas this year.  Her explanation wavered between sheepish embarrassment to dogmatic conviction about “what the Bible says.”  I know that conviction well.  No one knew what to say.  I knew what I wanted to tell her, but I also knew she would have to walk down that road to see what I see now.

You cannot ignore Christmas, no matter how hard you might try.  And oh did we try, for nearly ten years.  We came under conviction early on in our Christian lives that we were wrong to mix the worship of the one true God with traditions inherited from Paganism.  The desire for our worship to be pure before God sparked our search for the purest form of our faith, seeking to go back all the way to what we believed were our authentic roots.

I don’t blame anyone for coming to this conclusion about Christmas, especially if you do as I did and study out the history of the Church and various holy days.  During the Middle Ages, every month had some type of celebration adopted from various pagan cultures, renaming the days for saints, yet retaining the rituals of superstition and divination.  I did not view this as an honorable history, but rather a church compromising in order to gain allegiance and control of the masses.  In many countries around the world today you see a strange mix of traditional cultures with Catholic mass and rituals, mixing Jesus and Mary with whatever custom they can impress them upon.  Watching documentaries of other cultures, I personally saw no difference in what they were doing and our culture’s worship of Christmas.  (I felt the day was worshiped, not God, and still see this is the largest pitfall of our materialistic culture.)

I became a Christian after spending time in the New Age, so I was especially sensitive to avoid all references or participation in paganism, which at this time in my life, was perfectly right.  All I could see in Christmas at that time was compromise, which is why I don’t judge anyone for choosing to not celebrate this day.  However for me, my pure devotion quickly transformed into a source of superiority and pride.

Each year as the day rolled around we sometimes had a dinner with friends who shared the same conviction.  There was literally nothing else to do.  We would eat, play games, and lament how our families just did not  understand.  We personally didn’t mind being with our own families, but some did not respect our unwillingness to exchange gifts, which created awkward situations, so we tended to avoid them.  The irony of our non-Christmas dinner fellowships wasn’t lost on me.  I realized, we were still acknowledging the day, just in a different way.

When confronted with Christmas invitations and questions, I soon tried to not reveal that we didn’t celebrate it because the questions were uncomfortable.  Do you believe in Jesus?  Are you a Jehovah’s Witness?  It took too long to explain.  Even with the challenge it posed, this became an important feature of our unique spiritual identity.  To ignore Christmas is like standing against a tidal wave.

When our eyes opened to the reality of what we have in Christ, and we began to rebuild our spiritual worldview, we had to face once again the question; What do we do with  Christmas?

We did not have a new set of facts.  History cannot be changed.  And this was in fact our conclusion.  Try as we might to pretend it didn’t happen, Christmas has become the shining star of the entire year of holidays for the whole western world, and even in many countries which do not generally embrace Christianity.  As we looked at the issue again, we had to go back to the testing method which originally prompted our discontent with the Hebrew Roots Movement.  Fruit.  The unintended result of rejecting Christmas had only caused people to shy away and assume we did not even believe in Jesus at all.  Only atheists and cults deny Christmas.  (Here’s your sign…once again.)  If you are in fact wanting people to know about Him, this is counterproductive to say the least.  This only added to the ways in which we gave the wrong impression about Jesus, which were many.  The only things we had to show for our pious obedience were sheer boredom, miffed family members, and a distraction away from Jesus, not toward Him.

When we looked at  Christmas again, instead of seeing only paganism repackaged, we saw paganism redeemed, for the spread of the gospel.  Just as Jesus took us who were broken, sinful, idolatrous, rebellious, and prideful – and redeemed us for His glory – we realized He can also do this with a day if it pleases Him to do so.  The evergreen, the pagan symbol for eternal life, we see now as a symbol of their desire to overcome the problem of death, the problem only Jesus has the answer for.  The lights symbolize the true Light of the World, that comes in our darkest, coldest nights.  The day they dedicated to call back the Sun is now celebrated to the Eternal Son.  It seems maybe God intended for things to transpire the way they have.  Another miracle of Christmas is the success of its worldwide popularity, being presented as the day of Jesus Christ’s birth!  If I were a pagan, I would not see this as a victory for my perspective, especially since most people don’t give a second thought to where the traditions came from in the first place.

As I sat in church during what was arguably my first real Christmas, fully embracing Christ, I was so moved by the focus on the amazing miracle and sacrifice of a God who was willing to come and give everything of Himself to His Creation.  How could the Creator submit to a human birth,  just as we are born?  I related to Him in the birth of my own children and wondered what Mary must have thought as she held God in her arms.  Thankfully she could not fully see the days ahead.

Did He command me to remember His birth?  No.  But part of the beauty of the New Covenant is found in the love offering our life becomes.  In the Old Covenant people brought freewill and thank offerings when they desired to.  I believe Christmas, for a genuine believer, becomes a time to present a thank offering to Jesus for the amazing gift He gave, which only started with His birth.  We cannot stop at the manger.  Our minds are drawn to the cross, and finally a risen Lord, and His ever-present Spirit, the true Spirit of Christmas.

I found it was not possible to ever completely separate myself from this holiday, but I am thankful that I am now in a new relationship with it that blesses me and gives me a chance to bless others in many ways.  I don’t believe there is any other day of the year that provides a better stage to share the truth about Jesus, to find people with their ears and hearts a little more open.  I am sorry for the years I missed that, and for all the frustration we put our families through.  I have also seen how special this day is to those who don’t have the freedom to worship Him openly, and how they have risked their lives to honor their Savior on the day dedicated to His birth.  I would much rather stand with them in their sacrificial love of Christ, than were I stood before, in pride against those who have given all for Him.  What will you do with the day of the Son this year?

Thank you Jesus for being willing to come to our dark world and share in our human suffering and carry our humiliation.  Your love is beyond understanding, beyond anything mortal man in all his vain wisdom ever dared to hope for – a God that would come down and unite Himself with us, in order to save us.  Thank you that You are in us, and we are in You, forever! Maranatha!

Beware the Cluck that Comes with a Waddle

A parable showing how to reconcile the conflict between your identity and your message.

Deceitful Duck Logic

There once was a duck who thought ill of chickens.  She gathered all the ducks together and convinced them chickens were indeed very evil – so evil in fact, they may be in danger of being wiped out of existence by the Farmer.  They decided to warn the chickens, and teach them how to be more like ducks.  Many chickens were persuaded to try out of fear.  The ducks convinced them the Farmer really loved ducks more and the only way to avoid being eaten was to become a duck.  Sadly, the truth was much different.  The farmer kept the chickens because they produced eggs, and did not kill and eat them.  There was plenty of evidence to support this, yet the ducks told the chickens their eggs were not important, but the most urgent thing they needed to learn was how to walk like a duck.

Not all the chickens were so easily swayed however, and some tried at times to tell the ducks they were very strange for saying such things.  In fact, most of the chickens did not accept the duck’s ideas and would not invite them to the farm socials.  While the ducks were the first ones to cause the rift in this relationship by accusing chickens of being a lower life form, they simultaneously wanted to be accepted by the chickens in some activities.  Since they knew the chickens had been turned off by their duckness, they began to fluff their feathers more and learned how to cluck like chickens.  Eventually the efforts paid off, and the chickens began to accept them and include them in their chicken parties.  If any chicken pointed to them and cried..”Don’t be tricked!! That is not a chicken, but in fact.. a duck!”  The other chickens would turn on them and peck them until they decided it wasn’t worth the effort.

The disguise worked so well, the ducks decided to use it when inviting the chickens to their own meetings.  After all, if chickens knew they were actually ducks, no one would come to hear what they had to say.  The meetings, designed to illustrate why chickens were evil were ironically presented as meetings by chickens and for chickens.  After being mesmerized by the initial illusion, and believing the accusations against their own kind, many chickens were not at all alarmed when the feathers settled down into an oily matte and the clucking turned back into quacking.  In fact, some never even noticed the transfer from chicken back to duck and came to see themselves as a restored chicken – going back to the way chickens were always meant to be… a duck.

So.. if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck.. it must be in reality, the essence of true chicken.

For more information:

John Ankerberg show interviews Walter Martin

(must scroll down page for the series of videos)

Grief

I have no idea what prompted me to look, but today I searched for our old friend to see what he had been writing lately -  the friend we left behind in our Hebrew Roots group – the one  who took over after our departure and could not accept that Jesus gave us a New Covenant.  Our relationship remained strictly formal after we left, and all attempts to reconnect on a level of friendship were incredibly strained.  Eventually even the working relationship he and my husband had fell apart, and unless God moves it does not appear they will have a part in our lives anymore.   I have grieved the loss of this friendship more than any other in my life.  I do not place all the blame on them for this.  Yet, I failed to find a way to bridge the gap our differences created.

Today I read an article he wrote shortly after our last Sukkot together – referring to an experience I heard him talk about to some extent.  He had gone off to be alone and had a spiritual encounter that seemed to move him greatly.  I do not doubt for a moment he experienced a genuine awakening of sorts, but what he is describing is a metaphysical, mystical experience where he became aware of the unity of all creation and his own connectedness to it.  This is not uncommon for those involved in various forms of meditation, and the concepts he describes are nearly identical to those who follow in New Age/Eastern religion/metaphysical ideas.  (He had been delving deeper into the teachings of Kabbalah through the Chasidic Jewish teachers.  They hold much in common with mystics of Eastern religions.)  He wrote of this in the context of wrapping tefillin, (praying with phylacteries), and described repentance as the process of the whole creation returning to its former state.  His small part in that was pursuance of Torah in his life.  He explained he could never fully repent, but that this would be an ongoing process his whole life.  Repentance for him is going back to the old ways of God and endeavoring to have his life measure up to the desires of God.

I may be making a wild speculation here, but I do not believe that if someone has become a New Creation in Christ through the New Birth, he or she would experience a solidarity with the old one in such a way.  Of course there is a great appreciation of nature and what God has made, but spiritually we no longer belong to this creation, which is passing away.

2 Peter 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

The fallen creation cannot repent but will be made new just as our hearts have been in regeneration. (In Judaism, teshuva or repentance, they say means to turn back to something, such as YHVH in keeping Torah where Christian repentance as spoken of in the New Testament is defined as turning AWAY from the old and walking in New Life.)

Not only is the content disturbing, but the publication website is dedicated completely to Judaism, stating it does not acknowledge any faiths outside of Judaism, and all content posted there must be aligned in such a way.  My heart sank as I realized his reference to “Moshiac”  (Messiah) in this piece – while in passing – was not understood to mean anything to do with Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  Even if our friend still believes so, there was no evidence of this fact and he did not deem it important enough to identify.  If he believes it, this is a point he is hiding in order to have his writing included in this venue.

1 John 4:2,3  By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

I remember being terrified when I added up all the pieces and saw how many ways we denied Jesus in our belief and practice in the Hebrew Roots Movement.  I made a list and came up with 13.  I’m sure there were more.  Today I felt like I was seeing ripened fruit of this antichrist spirit and shudder to think how close we were to falling off into this.  I marvel that just a few weeks after our friend had this experience, we too had one – in a very different direction.  Up until this time, we had looked up to him as someone knowledgeable in the ways of Torah and opening up the meanings of Scripture to us.  He studied deeper than anyone in our group.

The spiritual oppression we were under in this movement is very real.  I believe the weight of the dark cloud that lifted off my husband that day as he accepted the truth of the book of Galatians was nothing short of a demonic stronghold.  We were delivered when we turned to Jesus, and read the Word of God, and believed it, as Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 3.  “When one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away”.  Not that we can take the credit in any way.  Jesus Himself drew us or we would have never begun to seek Him.

My grief for the loss of a bond of friendship has deepened to sorrow for the reality of their spiritual direction, away from Christ.  I am not writing this to bash him.  I’m not giving out names or links.  I only wish to warn any who might pass this way, be not deceived.  You cannot hold on to Jesus and the Torah of Moses as equals.  You will lose one or the other in the end.  (Romans 7).  I will not give up praying for my friends, that by some means, they too may come to see Jesus as He is, in all His Glory.

2 Corinthians 10:4, 5  For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.  We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…

If this is your first visit to this blog I invite you to read our testimony and the articles posted here.

Ending Well

I heard a sermon a few years ago on the radio relating many stories of men who rose to fame in Christian ministry only to end in defeat or humiliation.  The stories sobered me because you seldom hear “the rest of the story.”  The speaker shared statistics which indicated this is actually the more common outcome, rather than the exception.  I have been reading over the life of Solomon lately, and this sermon came back to mind.  We have no shortage of examples in scripture or in modern Christianity.

An interesting paradox in our Christian walk is that the greater a gift God gives His children, the more potential we find for the gift to become our bane instead of a blessing.   The first temptation is to love the gift more than the One who gave it, not realizing we have misplaced our highest devotion.  I believe this was Solomon’s downfall – his heart being drawn after the women in his life and passively following their spiritual desires at the expense of his love for the true God.  Sometimes the gifts and blessings of God overwhelm me, and the temptation is to focus all my energies on those things, especially my children and family.  But if we make an idol out of our career, house, family, church family or a charismatic leader, our love will quickly grow selfish, constricting, conditional, and even abusive, as we have cut ourselves off from the true Source of real love.  These idols are hard to see because we are supposed to love and nurture these things – but not more than we love God.  We often don’t realize we have crossed the line.   But others can often tell something is wrong, even if they don’t know why.

The other trap, especially in the area of ministry, is the feeding of our pride.  We mistakenly begin to ascribe to the sometimes subtle belief that our gifting originated in ourselves, not in God, or we may want to think He gave it to us because we are special in some way.  This describes the first evil found in our universe – when Satan became lifted up in his own beauty and aspired to sit on God’s throne himself.  We can never delude ourselves into believing anything good originates in us, and not lose the benefit of it in the end.  Solomon asked for wisdom in humility, telling God he was like a child who did not know how to go out or come in.  I wonder how long he remembered this was his natural state before God answered his prayer?

This is where we learn that the greater our revelation, the more we must be willing to suffer.  The great men and women of faith I admire the most, have suffered things I can only imagine. Why is this?  God’s mercy I believe, as Paul wrote:

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.   Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.   But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2 Corinthians 12:7 -10

This is why we are instructed to not despise the correction of God.  He does it in love to protect us from ourselves.  Not every calamity comes for this reason.  Some obstacles we are called to stand and fight against in spiritual warfare, but we must have discernment to hear when He says to us, “My grace is sufficient.”

God’s giftings come with testing built in – to see if we will love Him the most, and walk in humility before Him.  But if this is not enough, the church turned institution developed an over-dependence on leadership not found in the New Testament.  This structure places men on platforms they should not have to stand on, and binds burdens on them which should be shared by other giftings designed to work together as.. a body…. maybe?   This damaging symbiosis weakens both the pastor and the flock.  One is taxed to the point of his flame being burned out, even if he does not fall into temptation, and the flock becomes passive, expecting the leader to spoon feed them, inspire them,  hear from God for them, soothe their every wound, and do the work of building the church by reaching the lost.  Some enjoy being large and in charge I suppose, but I have known those who have crumbled.  They need intercessors urgently – especially those who truly have a heart for honest truth and obedience to the Spirit.  Spurgeon said his ministry was a result of fervent intercession by those called to pray for him and the body.  Once during the Israelite’s wilderness wanderings, God allowed the burden to fall on 70 other men to prophesy with Moses – to lighten his load.  Moses declared at that time he wished all of Israel would prophesy.  This is the reality of what we have in the New Covenant and of God pouring out His Spirit on all flesh!  Yes we need leaders most definitely – but they are not ordained to be our everything.

Burnout, falling into sin, being distracted from our First Love in idolatry – just a few reasons why we do not end well.  Paul spoke of running the race and seeking the prize at the end.  I don’t believe he meant striving to be saved, but striving to end with integrity and faith, glorifying Christ.  In Ecclesiastes it appears that Solomon gained the greatest wisdom in the end – realizing the vanity of this world and the importance of a singular focus on God Himself.  Yet the consequences of his disobedience played out in a sad story of a divided kingdom.  We are living in an age of divided families, friendships, and churches.  We are not ending well, and it is my greatest desire and prayer that our true focus may be restored – to the praise and glory of God alone.

A Dream

A few weeks ago, I had been fasting for health reasons for about 3 days – not a total fast, but almost.  The morning of the fourth day I had a long vivid dream.  I woke up from it at 4 a.m. and wrote it down because as others I’ve had in the past that were significant, this one impressed me as being important.  I can’t explain the difference between a normal dream and these others I have sometimes.  They are full of symbolism that I don’t “see” and understand until I wake up, and I began having them about three years ago.  I am not going to claim it’s from God.  If He did give it, He will confirm it in others.  If it was just a result of low blood sugar on the brain, and impresses you as such, you are free to file it circularly.   I have no attachment to the outcome of sharing this.

Here is a summarized version – the actual dream is longer and full of details.  As I wrote it all out – the symbolism became clear to me and I wrote out what I believed it meant.  You can test that too, and add your thoughts if you have any insight.

Dream 11-17-09

My husband dropped me off to meet a friend of ours in old trailer park located in a run down part of a big city.  I had no idea why I was there.  Our friend met me and we walked to the back of the park where there was a gate.  We went through the gate and there was some sort of a compound set up.  The first thing I saw to my right was a canopy with tables set up, and against one wall a Ham radio was set up on a table and white boards up on the wall behind it.  Looked like a place for planning and communication, but there was no one there.  We went past it and into a small building we had to step up to get into.  Inside were a group of people having a meeting with a man standing up speaking.  He seemed to be presenting people with a choice.  I sensed no one would be asked to leave, but he began to openly confront people with Jesus Christ – and asking people to share what they believed concerning Him.  Some became visibly irritated – and uneasy.  Two people left.  The man was making it very clear that unless you were completely on board with the truth about Jesus, you would not want to be there.  But no one was told to leave.

From there much activity was taking place – people finding their assigned living spaces in the building.  It seemed like a training program of some kind.  I was given a small area with a bed.  The first thing I realized about the place was that everything that was brought into the building was equally shared among everyone – no exceptions.  One young woman came up to me so excited to be there, and started to explain to me that her pastor had helped her to come there. I began to wonder why I was there, and how.  I looked at a clipboard and the names of my family were written down to be there four weeks.  I asked my friend that had brought me if he knew anything about that, but he wouldn’t say anything.  In fact he never said a word at any time in my dream.  I wanted to know who arranged it – what was the cost??  None of my questions were answered.  All I knew was that  I was supposed to be there.

The place was closed down on the weekends, so I went home and my family returned with me the following Monday. I had brought supplies from home and was suddenly convicted when I put them in my quarters – remembering that they must be put out to be shared equally with everyone else.  I went to the main kitchen/living area and there was a notice that the director and his wife were resigning, which gave me a sense of uneasiness because we had just arrived and didn’t have any idea what to expect anyway.  I didn’t want to be in a situation where there was chaos.  I began to bake a cake.. and after I put the batter in the pan, I was dropping spoonfuls of red and yellow frosting into the batter, to be baked inside of it.  (I think I know what this represents – will explain later).  As I was doing this, a man came in who I knew was the director, but had never met him.  He began to talk about how things were before he came, and how he was afraid problems he had dealt with would return after he left.  He said before he came, everyone there had been striving and competing against one another for position and authority.  No one trusted anyone else.  Then he pointed to a cabinet where the medicines were kept.  He said the door remains open and unlocked (like all supplies remained out in the open for all to see/share).  He explained that before it was kept closed and locked, and people often found ways to steal from it.  Since the door was kept closed, no one realized the theft had taken place until someone opened it up to use something, and by then it was too late to discover who had done it.  With everything out in the open, everyone knew at all times what was supposed to be there and anything missing would be immediately obvious to everyone.

At one point – my family was trying on swimming suits because the facility had a pool – but we never actually saw it.  People would refer to it sometimes in passing, but I have no idea where it was.  My husband and son walked out of our quarters with their bathing suits on and were strongly urged to not be seen wearing them.  No one wanted to talk about “the pool” for some reason.

The last part of the dream, I was outside playing football – yes football.  If you know me – you know I do not exactly think highly of this game, nor am I physically able to engage in any form of this sport.  But in my dream I was having a great time, playing football with teenagers (still at the training center) and fully physically engaged.  I remember the element of the game giving me the greatest satisfaction was the joy of working together as a team.  I was playing with reckless abandon – putting 100% into it mentally and physically – doing things that I can truly, only dream of doing in real life. ha.  When I came inside to get cleaned up, I had pain in my eye and I looked to find 3 small twigs (looked like thin pine needles) lodged in my eye. I pulled them out and it hurt terribly, and began looking for something to treat my eye with to prevent infection.

My conclusions about the overall meaning:

1 – I see it as a dream about being in training for things to come as it concerns the Body of Christ.  Training and  preparation are important.  The training facility was equipped to do more than it was being used for.  The radio was not used, and neither was the pool.  I am currently writing a parable where communication with the Holy Spirit is symbolized by a two-way radio.  I think this is the symbol of the Ham radio, as well as the importance of being connected to other groups of believers in other places – to not be isolated as a body from the wider Body.  Water is also a symbol of the Holy Spirit and there is a very large segment of the the Church that is not willing to fully acknowledge what it means to be “immersed” in it – being scared because of issues that have been blown out of proportion in this area.  I see the silent radio, the elusive pool and cautions to prospective “swimmers” to be a rebuke concerning our relationship with the Holy Spirit.

2 – The central and most urgent purpose that we should be aligned around are the simple truths of Jesus. When He is clearly presented and lifted up, and people confronted to testify for Him, tares will not be content to stay in the body.

3 – In our individualistic, capitalist-minded culture, we recoil at the idea of “commune” – because it looks like communism.  I won’t get into politics, but capitalism practiced by those with fallen human nature is just as evil as the alternatives.  It has made us selfish, and self-reliant.  The church in Acts was “communist” in the sense that they shared all things and no one had need.  In hard times, we as the Body of Christ must be willing for everything we have to be used for God and His family – not counting anything as our own.  When people are suffering there is no place in the Holy Spirit that allows for hoarding, greed, and a lack of compassion for those who are in lack.  This cannot be legislated to unregenerate hearts – but it should be the desire of the children of God.  We must find our purpose in our calling, not in our things.

4 – Striving against one another for position, leadership, influence, etc..  will only tear us down.  Leaders must be respected and we need an attitude of humility toward each other, not arrogance and pride in our own agendas.

5 – Transparency prevents dishonesty, and keeps all problems out in the forefront.  Keeping things locked and hidden away does not allow issues to be dealt with.  No secrets.

6 – Teamwork, finding pleasure in helping one another in our mission – being willing to sacrifice ourselves completely to help each other.

7 – Close contact in teamwork brings offenses and they can happen before we even realize it.  We can have collected grievances we didn’t realize we carried until we find they hurt.  We need to remove them and seek “salve” to prevent infection – the spreading of bitterness.

The meaning of the red and yellow frosting and the cake.  This really made no sense to me and I couldn’t figure out what in the world that was doing in the dream.  Everything else made sense as I was writing it out.  Then it came to me the colors of the communist Chinese flag are red and yellow and I believe the things that I have seen in this dream are the lessons from the persecuted church.  Putting the frosting in the cake to me represents these amazing believers who are the sweetest of all their countrymen – but are forced to be hidden underneath the surface.

A week or so after I had this dream, someone loaned me a book that confirmed so many things I understood this dream to mean.  I felt compelled to share it.

Take it or leave it – as you wish.

Pardoned by Faith then Judged by the Law

“The best way to show that a stick is crooked is not to argue about it or to spend time denouncing it,

but to lay a straight stick along side it.” -D. L. Moody

Intro to the teaching which led to the existence of the SDA denomination:

In 1844, a man named William Miller predicted the second coming of Christ, for the second time.  He had a large following of believers who had given up all their possessions in anticipation of the end.  After Christ did not return, some followers of William Miller claimed God instructed through visions that they were not wrong about the time, but rather about the event itself.  Their prophet claimed God himself had placed His hand over the truth in order to hide it from them, and test them.  After they proved themselves faithful, He revealed his true plan.  They began teaching that Jesus had finally in 1844 entered the Most Holy place in heaven’s sanctuary to begin the process of atonement for the sins of His people.  They believed the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament feast cycle foreshadowed this new phase of the ministry of Christ as our high priest.

But before this atonement can take place for any one person, an investigation has to be conducted.  Everyone who professes to believe in Christ became “pardoned” (a temporary stay until their case was fully decided) but their sins cannot be blotted out until it can be determined if they are in fact worth of eternity as judged by the Law.  This process is said to have begun in 1844 with the names of those who had already died (soul sleep being an important doctrine here).  After the dead were judged then the work could move to those who were still living.  When these are all finally complete, Jesus will return.  No one can ever know which phase the judgment process is in, or if your name has yet been cleared or not.  As an SDA, I was taught Jesus cannot return until the living actually stop sinning so His mediation of atonement in the sanctuary is no longer necessary.  We were instructed to never ever claim to “be saved.”  We had no possible way to know how our case would be judged because it didn’t depend just on faith, but our performance as well.

Their writings say the blood of Christ transferred sins to the sanctuary above,  and atonement finally ends with the sins “blotted out” but  later placed on Satan who is banished.  The blood of Christ does not cancel out sin so much as provide a catalyst to put them back on Lucifer who is seen as the scapegoat foretold by the Atonement day ceremonies of Israel.  Instead of Jesus being the “Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world” , Satan has the final work of taking away sin.

To contrast the difference between what evangelicals believe and what Adventism teaches happened in 1844, I want to start with the clear truth in God’s  Word in order to demonstrate the overall, and frequent teaching about salvation and faith.  This is a foundational truth in Christianity, and anything that dismantles or confuses this is a different gospel as warned about in the book of Galatians.  Many of these verses are paired with instructions about holiness and good works, of which I am a huge supporter.  But a changed life must be understood as the fruit of true saving faith and the New Birth, not a prerequisite for atonement.

After the Scripture are a few quotations, of many, demonstrating the “Investigative Judgment”  teachings from the writings of Ellen White.  This doctrine in question is still firmly holding its place in the official Fundamental Beliefs of the SDA organization, and the books these quotations are derived from still highly promoted and defended.

The Good News

John 5:24  Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.   He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Hebrews 1:3  He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, (past tense)

Hebrews  6:19  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 9:11-12  But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. (past tense)

Hebrews 9:24-26 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.  Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (put away.. Greek word there means “cancelled” according to Strong’s)

Hebrews 10:12-14 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.  For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (past tense… see a pattern here??)

Hebrews 10:17-23  then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.  Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,
and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Romans 3:20-29  For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.  But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it–the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.  For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.  Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,  ( see the law implied as belonging only to the Jews?)

Romans 5:1,2  Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 10:9-11  because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.  For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Galatians 2:16  yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:21  I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Galatians 3:11  Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Galaitans 3:24  So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

Galatians 5:4  You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. (This is SERIOUS error!)

Ephesians 1:7-9 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight  making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ

1Peter 1:13  Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Titus 3:4-7  But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,  he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Ephesians 2:5-9  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved– and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Rom 11:6  But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

CONTRAST TO THE FOLLOWING:

“This work of examination of the character, of determining who are prepared for the kingdom of God, is that of the investigative judgment, the closing work of the sanctuary above.  When the work of investigation shall be ended, when the cases of those who in all ages have professed  to be followers of Christ have been examined and decided, then , and not till them, probation will close, and the door of mercy will be shut…..  So when Christ entered the Holy of Holies to perform the closing work of the atonement, He ceased His ministration in the first apartment….  So Christ had only completed one part of His work as our intercessor, to enter upon another portion of the work, and He still pleaded His blood before the Father in behalf of sinners. ” Great Controversy p. 428, 429

“Every man’s work passes in review before God and is registered for faithfulness or unfaithfulness.  Opposite each name in the books of heaven is entered with terrible exactness every wrong word, every selfish act, every unfulfilled duty, and every secret sin, with every artful dissembling.  Heaven-sent warnings or reproofs neglected, wasted moments, unimproved opportunities, the influence exerted for good or for evil, with its far-reaching results, all are chronicled by the recording angel.

The Law of God is the standard by which the characters and lives of men will be tested in the judgment…

Those who in the judgment “accounted worthy” will have a part in the resurrection of the just.” GC p. 482

“All who have truly repented of sin, and by faith claimed the blood of Christ as their atoning sacrifice, have had pardon entered against their name in the books of heaven; as they have become partakers of the righteousness of Christ, and their characters are found to be in harmony with the law of God, their sins will be blotted out, and they themselves will be accounted worthy of eternal life.” GC  p. 483

And what if we do not accept this claim to new truth?

“It is those who by faith follow Jesus in the great work of the atonement who receive the benefits of His mediation in their behalf, while those who reject the light which brings to view this work of ministration (i.e. investigative judgment) are not benefited thereby… (sins not blotted out)  …. The condition of the unbelieving Jews illustrates the condition of the careless and unbelieving among professed  Christians, who are willingly ignorant of the work of our merciful High Priest.” GC p. 430    (my comments in parentheses)

Blood of Sacrifice… Cleanse or Defile?

“As the sins of the people were anciently transferred, in figure, to the earthly sanctuary by the blood of the sin-offering, so our sins are, in fact, transferred to the heavenly sanctuary by the blood of Christ. And as the typical cleansing of the earthly was accomplished by the removal of the sins by which it had been polluted, so the actual cleansing of the heavenly is to be accomplished by the removal, or blotting out, of the sins which are there recorded. This necessitates an examination of the books of record to determine who, through repentance of sin and faith in Christ, are entitled to the benefits of his atonement. The cleansing of the sanctuary therefore involves a work of investigative Judgment. This work must be performed prior to the coming of Christ to redeem his people; for when he comes, his reward is with him to give to every man according to his works. [REV. 22:12.]“            (The Spirit of Prophecy, Volume Four, page 266, paragraph 1.)

“The blood of Christ, while it was to release the repentant sinner from the condemnation of the law, was not to cancel the sin; it would stand on record in the sanctuary until the final atonement; so in the type the blood of the sin offering removed the sin from the penitent, but it rested in the sanctuary until the Day of Atonement.

“In the great day of final award, the dead are to be ‘judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.’ Revelation 20:12. Then by virtue of the atoning blood of Christ, the sins of all the truly penitent will be blotted from the books of heaven. Thus the sanctuary will be freed, or cleansed, from the record of sin. In the type, this great work of atonement, or blotting out of sins, was represented by the services of the Day of Atonement–the cleansing of the earthly sanctuary, which was accomplished by the removal, by virtue of the blood of the sin offering, of the sins by which it had been polluted.

“As in the final atonement the sins of the truly penitent are to be blotted from the records of heaven, no more to be remembered or come into mind, so in the type they were borne away into the wilderness, forever separated from the congregation.

Since Satan is the originator of sin, the direct instigator of all the sins that caused the death of the Son of God, justice demands that Satan shall suffer the final punishment. Christ’s work for the redemption of men and the purification of the universe from sin will be closed by the removal of sin from the heavenly sanctuary and the placing of these sins upon Satan, who will bear the final penalty. So in the typical service, the yearly round of ministration closed with the purification of the sanctuary, and the confessing of the sins on the head of the scapegoat.”   (Patriarchs and Prophets, page 357 paragraph 5-page 358 paragraph 2.)

Summary

Atonement has a completely different meaning in Adventism than evangelical theology – not completed at the cross, in process right now as we speak, doesn’t cancel sin, only transfers from earth to heaven and then to satan, and isn’t given unless the professed believer is first found worthy.  The final sin bearer is satan and not Christ.  Is this the gospel found in scripture?

If you have believed this I pray that as you read this your eyes are opened to see the beautiful simple truth of scripture.  It does not require complicated time lines and arguing over definitions of words.  It’s simple and it will set you free.  It is no small thing to change the Word of God and teach a lie.  We must repent and ask God to forgive us for not trusting His Word and precious promises to us through the Son.   It is not my wish that anyone I know be deceived and led to trust something other than Jesus Christ for their eternity.  Praise God, His work is complete, His forgiveness is total, and His promises are not revoked.   The Word teaches clearly that since the sacrifice of Jesus, all believers have the privilege to enter the Holy of Holies before the presence of God – boldly, in full assurance of faith.  If Jesus Himself could not enter until 1844, then we have not had access either and the Word of God is not true.

Above all, I challenge you to read the New Testament from beginning to end without any outside commentary or input, in deep prayer for God to reveal His truth to you.  If you truly want the truth, you will find it.

Note:  If you read an earlier version of this post I apologize for the overall tone and I have taken out some of the more personalizing statements.   I do not wish to come across as having this anger toward people, because I do love all the people involved.  I do however share Paul’s opinion of a “different gospel” .  Please forgive my failure to express that.

Where is the God of Elijah?

Thomas Boston as quoted in sermon notes by Charles Spurgeon.  1884

The sermon outline was “Where is the God of Elijah?”

1.  The God of Elijah gave him the sweet experience of keeping warm and lively in a very cold and dead generation; so that he was best when others were worst.

….. But where is the Lord God of Elijah in these dregs of time, wherein professors (believers) generally are carried away, with the stream of impiety, from all their liveliness and tenderness that aforetime have been among them, when the more wickedness sets up its head, the more piety is made to hide its head?  It is a sad evidence that God is gone from us, when the standard of wickedness makes advances, and that of shining holiness is retreating, and can hardly get hands to hold it up.

2.  The God of Elijah gave him the sweet experience of the power of prayer: James 5:17…

….. But where is the God of Elijah, while the trade with heaven by prayer is so very low?  Alas, for the dead, cold, and flat prayers that come from the lips of the professors (believers) at this day, so weak and languishing that they cannot reach heaven!

3.  The God of Elijah gave him the experience of the sweet fruits of dependence on the Lord, and of a little going far, with his blessing: I Kings 17:16

…..But where is the God of Elijah at this day, when what we have seems to be blown upon, that it goes in effect for nothing?  Our table is plentifully covered, yet our souls are starved; our goodness sometimes looks as a morning cloud, it blackens the face of the heavens, and promises a heavy shower, but so quickly proves as a little cloud, like unto a man’s hand, which is ready to go for nothing; yea, this generation is blinded by the means that have a natural tendency to give light.  Ah!  “Where is the God of Elijah?”

4.  The God of Elijah gave him the experience of a gracious boldness to face the most daring wickedness of the generation he lived in, though it was one of the worst.  This eminently  appeared in his encounter with Ahab: I Kings 18:1

…..But where is the God of Elijah now, while the iniquities of our day meet with such faint resistance, while a brave brow for the cause of God, a tongue to speak for him, and a heart to act, are so much wanting?  The wicked of the world, though they have an ill cause in hand, yet they pursue it boldly; but, alas!  the people of God shame their honest cause by their cowardice and faint appearing in it.  If God give us not another spirit, more fitted for such a day, we shall betray our trust, and bring the curse of the succeeding generation on us.

5.  The God of Elijah gave him the experience of a glorious and powerful manifestation of himself, in a solemn ordinance, even at the sacrifice on Mount Carmel, which was ushered in with the spirit of prayer in Elijah:  I Kings 18:37-39
…..But where is the God of Elijah when so little of the Spirit’s influences is found in ordinances, even solemn ordinances?  Here is the mantle, but where is the God of Elijah?  Here are the grave-clothes, in which sometimes the Lord was wrapt up, but where is he himself?  Communion days have sometimes been glorious days in Scotland, and sometimes the gospel hath done much good, so that ministers had almost as much to do to heal broken hearts as now to get hard hearts broken; but where now is the God of Elijah?

6.  The God of Elijah gave him the experience of being enabled to go far upon a meal:  I Kings 19:8

…..But where now are such experiences, while there is so little strength in the spiritual meals to which we now sit down?  This is a time wherein there is much need of such an experience; the Lord seems to be saying to his people, “Rise and eat, for the journey is long”; and what a hard journey some may have, ere they get another meal, who knows?  Oh, for more feeding power in the doctrine preached among us!

7. The God of Elijah gave him the experience of the Lord’s removing difficulties out of his way, when he himself could do nothing at them:  Jordan divided.  So Peter had the iron gate opened to him of its own accord:  for when the Lord takes the work in hand, were it never so desperate as to us, it will succeed well with him.  Sure we have need of this experience this day.  How is the case of many souls so embarrassed at this day that they cannot extricate themselves, by reason of long and continued departures from God, so that all they can do is that they are fleeing and going backward!  Ah! where is the God of Elijah, to dry up those devouring deeps?  Enemies have surrounded the church, and brought her to the brow of the hill, ready to cast her over; where is the God of Elijah, to make a way for her escape?

My Sermon Notes, Genesis to Proverbs, p. 88-90

Charles Spurgeon

A Jewish Believer’s Testimony and Exhortation

When giving our own testimony about leaving Torah Observance for Jesus alone and His Covenant,  I have always tried to make a distinction between the Hebrew Roots Movement (comprised almost completely of Gentiles) and Messianic Judaism, which I had no direct experience with.  Watching it from a distance I assumed this was culturally relevant for Jewish people having these customs as their background.

When I came to meet the brother who has shared this booklet I’m passing on to you, my theory was turned on its head.  I am so thankful that God has led him to write and freely share the wisdom he has learned from God’s Word.  He has blessed our lives incredibly with his words and I pray it blesses many others.

Judaism has beautiful elements in its practice and can be extremely alluring to those who mistakenly think they can learn to  “do what Jesus did.”   This is just the beginning of many distractions and deceptions, leading people to flirt with practices and philosophies of Judaism.   To draw from this well, as a believer, whether Jewish or Gentile is to drink from a broken cistern, guaranteed to run dry on you, most certainly NOT the Living Water that leads to everlasting life.

This booklet entitled “What Went Wrnog With the Messianic Movement” is a Jewish believer’s plea to reject the futility of false religion and inherited lies in favor of the One saving truth of Jesus Christ in a powerful, honest, heart-felt manner.  I praise God for the deliverance He has so graciously given so many of us who were once blinded, but now the veil has been taken away as we turned to Christ.  Here is an excerpt and a link to read the PDF copy.

“Judaism appears to be righteous and godly, but anything that turns away from or hates Jesus and His wonderful work also turns away from, i.e. hates, God as well. Therefore, because the spirit of Judaism is so virulently set against Jesus and His work on the Cross, the God of Judaism cannot be the God of Mt. Sinai, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the prophets or any god at all. That Judaism and practitioners of Judaism hate Jesus reveals something much deeper in the character of the religion and the practitioners thereof. He who hates Jesus, hates God and cannot be said to be in any way godly.

But there is a redeeming characteristic to normative Judaism. Zeal. The day will come when “all Israel will be saved”, and when that day comes it will be with great zeal. The knowledge of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David and the prophets will be added to zeal, to the eagerness to serve God. Lying, legal (and other) fictions and manipulative mental gymnastics of the mind of man will be put aside. The eagerness to seek God — the readiness on the tongue to discuss Godly matters —will be added to the clear vision of the eyes of faith. But it is dishonest to say that that day has come. Normative Judaism is not a beautiful religion for those who mean to seek the very face of God as described in the New Testament.

This booklet is not written for Jews who have never known Jesus. They should enjoy their religion in good health. However, for believers in the shed blood of the Messiah, normative Judaism is nothing short of spiritual adultery. In Romans we are told that we were made to die to the Law in order to be joined to (married to) the Messiah.”  p. 10

“Our heritage is beautifully described in the sixteenth Psalm:

“The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; Thou dost support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.” Psalm
16:5, 6 (emphasis supplied)

When David the psalmist says, “my heritage is beautiful to me” we should know that our heritage as believers in Jesus is not our culture; our heritage as believers is God Himself in diametric contradistinction to what has been handed down to us from our fathers. “Thou wilt make known to me the paths of life. In Thy presence is fullness of joy. In Thy right hand there are pleasures forever.” These three amazing things (knowing the paths of life, fullness of joy and pleasures forever) are not obtainable from
our fleshly fathers; not from rabbis and not from books or lectures. Only the inheritance that we have as sons of God through Jesus (John 1) can bring us this inheritance.”  p. 42

Click below for full version

What Went Wrnog with the Messianic Movement

Hebrew Roots Dialogues – Part 3

Finally the long-awaited finish to an explanation I started for a friend months ago.  I put off completing this far too long, being overwhelmed with how much I wanted to say.  I finally accepted that to finish was better than to worry about what I might leave out.    It will be posted as its own page under the first two parts which can be found here:

Part One and Part Two

Note:  The name Yehoshua is used in place of Jesus out of deference to the intended reader.

First to recap the information in the first segments….

1 – Yehoshua is the pivotal, unmovable element in our faith – being fully God and fully human, He is the highest revelation of God to man. (Heb. 1:1,2) All the Law and the Prophets pointed to him, but were mere shadows of His reality. The Law given to Moses cannot be an equal or synonymous expression of God Himself, and is not of equal authority. The Torah clearly commands that all are to listen and obey the Prophet who was to come. In Acts, Stephen and the Apostles make it clear that they believed Yehoshua was the fulfillment of this. By refusing to accept the testimony and resurrection of the Son of God, most of Israel had become lawbreakers in the worst sense, by rejecting God Himself. But as promised repeatedly in the prophets, and as Paul affirms in Romans, God will restore their sight in His time, and seems to be doing so now to some extent.

2 – To obey this command “to him you shall listen” (Deut 18:15) requires that we give ample attention and respect to the credibility of the four witnesses of Him in the New Testament, as well as to the teachings of the one He personally called to bring the truth of Him to the Gentiles. If we do not accept this testimony, or doubt its authenticity and reliability, we are left with the problem of an all-powerful God that can incarnate, die, and rise from the dead, but not able to preserve a trustworthy witness to these events. If this witness is not true and valid, then we cannot even firmly establish these events at all, and our faith is a myth and legend.

Listening to Yehoshua also means we are led by Him through the Holy Spirit. The Word of God in written form is the field manual, and the Holy Spirit is the two-way radio. We need them both in order to truly follow and obey Him. (not really a recap, but an introduction on that point).

3 – We believe Torah is better described as God’s unchanging principles based on love for God and man, and not a finite list on tablets of stone. The law as given at Sinai is an expression of His Torah, but we do not believe He intended it for all people for all time in this form. The same principles are included in a better Covenant, founded on better promises.

Nature is an amazing expression of God’s character, wisdom, and power – so much so that man has throughout the ages made it an object of worship. The Hebrew scriptures are also an incredible, complex expression of Him – as beautiful and intricate as any wonder of the natural world. However, they are still a gift of creation, and not God himself. The written scriptures were not given to man in order for us to venerate them or to create a distraction away from God Himself, especially as expressed in the Son. We did not openly state that we placed the Torah at this level, but our actions revealed this was the place it held in our hearts.

To Continue from There…

There are many different camps of theology when it comes to the covenants. I have not studied them all in depth so I will not attempt to compare and contrast them.  There are precise names and definitions and well developed “systems” of theology behind all of them, which for the most part makes my brain hurt. I am not a theologian, but I greatly desire the truth. I have to believe that truth is available to uneducated people like me, or I would lose hope.

That being said, the following discussion would be too oversimplified for most people who prefer complicated explanations. We took great pride in being complicated in the past, thinking it demonstrated how smart we were. Our supposed “wisdom” became a stumbling block to us, so I now value simplicity. The Greek word for simplicity in this following verse also means “singleness” (according to Strongs) I like that too.

But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, so your thoughts should be corrupted from the simplicity due to Christ.

2 Corinthians 11:3

What we believed in the past…

Being raised an SDA, we were taught a special brand of replacement theology. Not only had just the Gentile church replaced Israel, but our denomination was now THE remnant of Bible Prophecy. We were the new Israel. I think the Puritans may have had similar ideas when coming to America. Much of our Protestant theology seems to have been inherited from them. The SDA view of the Law is very similar to most Hebrew Roots thinkers. They believe it existed from creation, the eternal Law of God that would never change and the ultimate expression of His character for all people on earth.  One thing they are correct about is the belief that if you are to follow the Ten Commandments as the standard of obedience to God, you cannot replace Sabbath with Sunday. There is no basis for this change whatsoever if you are looking to the Sinai Covenant Law as your guide.

The main difference between the SDA and HRM viewpoint is the SDA side breaks up the law into categories, saying everything commanded outside the 10C were “ceremonial” (or civil) and these were the laws abolished on the cross. This is also the position of most Baptists, and Covenant Theology type churches.  This argument holds no water because the Sabbath is not a moral command.  In addition you will find plentiful commands within the whole body of law which are clearly moral issues.  Even Abraham married his half-sister, something morally forbidden in the Torah.

As we became interested in our Hebrew Roots, we saw it was a completely man-made concoction to say the Law could be split up into pieces, some abolished, some eternal. We saw it stood or fell altogether as one body of legislation. We still believed the Law of God as being the Law from Sinai so we then shifted our belief that the WHOLE thing had to be written on our heart and we should seek to obey every part of it we could. We still had to see some things as fulfilled – or at least – temporarily deferred until a temple was rebuilt and we were all living in Israel again. We became consumed with trying to learn more about doing all we could do at the present time. We took in the teaching that we were also Israel because we believed in Israel’s Messiah. With this, we believed we had a right to the stated material blessings through Torah observance, and the obligation to practice traditions of our elder brother Judah (from modern Judaism). We still believed Yehoshua alone was enough for Christians, and they were saved if they believed on Him, but we considered ourselves more obedient and more blessed.

Some people we knew went so far as to think there was no way to be saved unless you observed the Torah, because if you didn’t, you were worshiping a different God. Now when I say Torah observance, we criticized Christians for their failure to observe rituals and days – not on love or moral purity. Someone could place all their trust in Yehoshua and exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (character traits, not works) and still be considered a lost, pagan apostate if they did not keep the Holy Days, and ate pork. I never personally believed this but I was still proud about being superior.

I don’t remember the first time I heard the term “renewed” Covenant – but we didn’t stop to study it out, or test this term when we heard it. This idea fit what we wanted to believe and mirrored the SDA position I had always held which taught Messiah came to re-state the Sinai Law with His life and give us the ability to really keep it. Everyone was referring to the New Covenant as “renewed” or just simply “The Covenant” as if there was only one, and “New Covenant” became one of the many taboo words. To utter the phrase “New Covenant” was seen as anti-Semitic, anti-Law, anti-God Himself. When we looked at the original languages and scriptural context of New Covenant passages, we could not support the teaching of calling it renewed.

Our Present View of Old and New Covenants

We now believe the specific laws as given at Mt. Sinai were the conditions (terms) of the temporary contract between God and His people. Unlike the covenant made with Abraham where all he did was “believe God” the Sinai covenant had a HUGE obedience contingency. The contract was breached simply by their disobedience if nothing else.  As Hebrews says, “He found fault with them.” (The question is, what was instituted in its place?) The contract had physical rewards or consequences – nothing pertaining to eternal life. As with the custom of covenant agreements during that time – the parties were designated, terms agreed upon, and a sign was given.  In both covenants, man was tested to TRUST God.  Abraham passed the test, and Israel failed, repeatedly.

If you simply renew a covenant, it would make sense that the terms would remain the same. Even if this was actually what God did, it’s difficult to maintain that everyone in every country could be obligated to all the terms in this covenant. If simply accepting Israel’s Messiah brings you into this covenant, as we believed it did, this creates numerous problems. A huge percentage of the laws cannot be kept if not in the Land of Israel, without a temple, and without a government that adheres to this law as their civil structure.

However, if you make a new contract entirely, you could change the terms quite drastically – and God did. The Sinai Covenant and Covenant of Christ both have a different purpose, and are contrasted quite clearly in Hebrews, Romans, and Galatians. Here is an overview of three pivotal covenants.

Abraham

Contracting Parties: God & Abraham

Terms: Abraham believed – God promised land, many descendants and that through his seed, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. (through Messiah)

Sign: Circumcision

Israel

Contracting Parties: God & Israel (with the invitation to people of other nations to enter in through circumcision)

Terms: Israel obeys the Law given through Moses, God blesses with the Promised Land and abundance. Israel rebels, curses upon curses, and then… more curses.

Sign: Sabbath days

Sinai was conditional, Abraham’s Covenant is called the covenant of Promise because it was unconditional. This one is the foreshadow of the one we have in Christ. It simulates it and prophesies it.

New Covenant

Parties: God and “whosoever will” – given to Israel first,  who believe on His Son (the “works” of God are to believe on Him who He has sent. John 6:29)

Terms: Belief (not just a mental assent, but TRUST, a heart thing) – God promises eternal life

Sign: Love for one another(John, I John)

Seal: The Holy Spirit (Eph. 2)

Many Sinai Covenant devotees argue there is no evidence this covenant was ever abrogated. This is simply not true. Even a surface reading of the NT will reveal a clear teaching it was at that time (even while the temple was still standing) – “obsolete” and “passing away”. (Hebrews) The Sinai Law has not been given to all men from the dawn of time, but was given at a specific time, after the Promise to Abraham (Galatians). Paul makes it clear that when you are in Christ, you die with him (die to the old contract) and are raised to new life in Him – married to another (Romans 7). Galatians shows by way of analogy you cannot live under both at the same time, comparing Hagar and Sarah. If you want the fullness of the New Covenant – and the freedom of life in the Spirit, you have no choice but to throw out the bond woman and live in the Promise alone. According to Paul, living under both simultaneously is simply not possible. This is why we must twist Paul or reject him as a teacher completely in order to maintain that Torah observance as given to Israel is the only way to please God.

Very simply, as wild branch Gentiles, never at any time were we under this contract with God. Jews and Gentiles are separate in the flesh, and united only in Christ, not in a Law. (Eph. 2) The Gentiles were never commanded or required to come under Israel’s covenant when coming to Christ. Jewish believers were never required to stop observing the way they were accustomed to, however they were forbidden from requiring it of Gentile believers. (Acts 15, Romans 14, Col. 2, Eph. 2)

Even as a Jewish person trusts Yehoshua as their Messiah, realizing they have no righteousness of their own, die the same death the Gentile dies. We die to sin, self, and works. We are relieved of the condemnation of sin because it died on the cross. Just as Paul says in Romans 7 – death releases you of a contract! We are raised to be New Creation (2 Cor. 5:17) in Christ. The very God of the universe comes to live in us through His Spirit – (still can’t fathom the reality of this!) and becomes our Torah. The whole of New Covenant obedience is hinged on the two great commands – (1) Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul. (2) Love one another as God has loved you through His son (John 13:34, 15:12) – a much taller order than loving your neighbor as yourself. He could not even command this until He had come to demonstrate exactly what that meant. This was truly, a “new” commandment.

Yehoshua did not command his disciples to be identified by their outward observances as under the Sinai Covenant. Never in the NT are the Old Covenant observances reiterated to any segment of the Jewish or Gentile believers. Only issues of love, morality, and upright character are reinforced repeatedly, all such commands being connected to fervent love for God and one another. To be obedient under the New Covenant has a much higher degree of accountability than in the Old.  Those who “drew near” to serve God were repeatedly snuffed out of existence when they sinned, God holding them more accountable than the general population.  In Israel only one man could enter the Most Holy place in God’s presence.  Through the mediation of Christ, we are all a “royal priesthood” and have access to God’s throne, an astounding privilege.  We have not begun to understand what we have been granted, or the measure of grace God has given for us to have this privilege.

Far from being “lawlessness” as so many people claim, life in Christ is in fact being obedient moment by moment to a living God that dwells in us. He may command me through His Spirit to stop and help someone with car trouble, or prompt me to say a word of encouragement to someone. The Torah of the Spirit encompasses all of life. A list of rules can never do this. This life is not about external demands of clean/unclean or days and times, but becoming completely transformed. The Law could define our problem, but only life in the Spirit can solve our problem (Romans 8). The Law still stands today for all to see – it remains as a witness, but we are no longer in a relationship with it. We are no longer under it as school children, but have been promoted to sons and daughters. (Galatians)

Sadly I have to admit, many church-going Christians have never seen this either. Even though they are not keeping the Law according to Moses, they are still trying to come to God on external terms, and in their own efforts. They serve God out of sheer duty and striving, or for some hope of recognition and blessing. They do not enter the rest of complete trust and submission to God. Serving God becomes a means to an end when Yehoshua should be the desired end and blessing in Himself. They cannot even see the depravity of their hearts because they are assuring themselves with the multitude of their churchianity. This is not the life Yehoshua called his followers to live. We aren’t to look to a list written by Moses, or a pastor, or a denomination. Yehoshua alone is our Rabbi and our Lord.

Growing up in the SDA denomination, I never learned what it meant to be “born again” as Yehoshua taught, and as Paul explained. We were instructed as children to never say we were “saved”. They would correct other Christians who would claim they had been “saved” at a certain identifiable moment in their lives when they became new. This was something we were told we needed to do every day. We had to make sure everything was confessed at any given moment. If we let any sin remain unconfessed, we could lose our salvation if our number came up. At least Catholics had purgatory where they could work all that out and still get to heaven. We had to strive for perfection in fear of being lost instead of the “full assurance of faith” that Hebrews speaks of.

When we saw the New Covenant, I also for the first time understood being born again. Even though I had experienced this many years before, I had NO idea what had happened to me and had no way to express it, or testify to what God had done in my life. Now I realize that there was one day I was confronted with my sin and a Savior. I became so convicted by my own actions that were sick beyond belief, and so drawn to His gift of love in spite of myself, that I repented and threw myself at His feet.  I realized I had no other hope in this world.  I knew I had sinned against HIM personally and it was painful.  But at the same time, I sensed His deep love for me and He offered peace and not condemnation. This does not always happen in an intense moment that someone can point to. It can happen quietly too – especially in small children. However, the Word teaches that we become a New Creation. Old things are passed away. The Holy Spirit dwells in us and is a seal of our adoption into God’s family. (Eph. 2) Now I know my holiness does not come from the outside, but from within as He works love into my life – more for Him and for others.

I could go on for many more pages, and I’ll leave the technicalities to the theologians. But so much liberating and transformational truth is lost when the New Covenant and Christ are demoted to a subset within the Sinai system. This goes for HRM, SDA’s and many evangelical Christians who have no idea they are coming to God under the terms given to Moses. The foundation to the New Covenant is the unconditional Promise of Christ – and He is the one who is all and in all. So much in His name has been a sham, especially in the United States. I would urge everyone who wants to truly know God, to seek His Son first in the pages of His Word. It’s the most liberating truth there is, but the most demanding at the same time. To live it, we must reconcile that we die with Him, and be raised with Him. Only in that are we truly free.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him,

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:31-36

Jesus, Yeshua, Yahshua, Yehoshua, Yahoshua? ? ?

This post is again a pass-along from a list I am on.  When we were in the Hebrew Roots Movement, nearly everyone we knew made an issue about what to call God the Father, and Jesus.  While I never saw it as important, I acquiesced as much as possible to this practice so as not to cause offense.  In fact, if you happen to use the name “Jesus” with someone of this persuasion, they will be quick to point out the importance of using the correct name so as to be sure you are talking about the RIGHT Messiah.

The Sacred Name issues are many and complicated due to the fact that Sacred Name adherents themselves cannot agree on the correct name.  The only thing they do agree on is that you must absolutely use the correct name for God the Father, and Jesus the Son.   Sacred name evangelists are not new on the scene, but the HRM is the new breeding ground for this distraction.

One man in our group angrily asserted in one meeting that his name was the same in any language, so God’s name should be too.   For those that have only spoken in one language, or never traveled abroad, this may seem perfectly logical.  Unfortunately, ignorance of languages produces many misunderstandings.  Many self-proclaimed scholars are leading people down roads of deception and idolatry, holding up false teachings as sacred cows which create stumbling blocks.

This is just the tip of the language iceberg in the Hebrew Roots Movement.  Not only does the long-loved English Jesus become taboo, but also a long list of other words we have commonly used when speaking of our faith.  Reminiscent of PC speech, this also reminds me of Orwellian attempts to change people’s thinking through what they are allowed to say.  This may seem a trivial subject to most, but I assure you, the damage this does to the simplicity of Christ and his gospel runs very deep.  The following article addresses at least part of this problem.

NOTE:  Dr. Michael Brown has a Ph.D in Semitic languages – which
of course include Hebrew and Aramaic – the original languages of
Jesus and His people. He is a recognized authority on this topic.

JESUS, YESHUA or YAHSHUA??
-by Dr. Michael L. Brown.

I am continually amazed by how many people write to our ministry
and ask us questions like this one, which came in last week: “Some
Christians say we have to use the Hebrew name, Yashua.  They
say calling on the name of Jesus is calling on Zeus. That Jesus is
a disguise name for Satan. What answers do you have for this?
Where can we prove the name of Jesus is correct to use in its
English translation and pronunciation?”

As bizarre as these questions are, the fact that they keep coming
up means that they need to be addressed, so here are some simple
responses (for more details, see What Do Jewish People Think
About Jesus, question #38).

The original Hebrew-Aramaic name of Jesus is yeshu‘a, which is
short for yehoshu‘a (Joshua), just as Mike is short for Michael.
The name yeshu‘a occurs 27 times in the Hebrew Scriptures,
primarily referring to the high priest after the Babylonian exile,
called both yehoshu‘a (see, e.g., Zechariah 3:3) and, more
frequently, yeshu‘a (see, e.g., Ezra 3:2). So, Yeshua’s name was
not unusual; in fact, as many as five different men had that name
in the Old Testament. And this is how that name came to be “Jesus”
in English: Simply stated, this is the etymological history of the
name Jesus: Hebrew/Aramaic yeshu‘a became Greek Iesous,
then Latin Iesus, passing into German and then, ultimately, into
English, as Jesus.

Why then do some people refer to Jesus as Yahshua? There is
absolutely no support for this pronunciation—none at all—and I
say this as someone holding a Ph.D. in Semitic languages. My
educated guess is that some zealous but linguistically ignorant
people thought that Yahweh’s name must have been a more overt
part of our Savior’s name, hence YAHshua rather than Yeshua—
but again, there is no support of any kind for this theory.

The Hebrew Bible has yeshu‘a; when the Septuagint authors
rendered this name in Greek, they rendered it as “iesous” (I­­esous,
with no hint of yah at the beginning of the name); and the same
can be said of the Peshitta translators when they rendered Yeshua’s
name into Syriac (part of the Aramaic language family). All this is
consistent and clear: The original form of the name Jesus is yeshu‘a,
and there is no such name as yahshu‘a (or, yahushua or the like).

What about the alleged connection between the name Jesus
(Greek I­­esous) and Zeus? This is one of the most ridiculous claims
that has ever been made, but it has received more circulation in
recent years (the Internet is an amazing tool of misinformation),
and there are some believers who feel that it is not only preferable
to use the original Hebrew/Aramaic name, Yeshua, but that it is
wrong to use the name Jesus. Because of this, we will briefly
examine this claim and expose the fallacies that underlie it.

According to the late A. B. Traina in his Holy Name Bible, “The
name of the Son, Yahshua, has been substituted by Jesus, Iesus,
and Ea-Zeus (Healing Zeus).”

In this one short sentence, two complete myths are stated as fact:
First, there is no such name as Yahshua (as we have just explained),
and second, there is no connection of any kind between the Greek
name I­­esous (or the English name Jesus) and the name Zeus.
Absolutely none! You might as well argue that Tiger Woods is the
name of a tiger-infested jungle in India as try to connect the name
Jesus to the pagan god Zeus. It is that absurd, and it is based on
serious linguistic ignorance.

Here is another, equally absurd statement:

“… according to the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, the name
Ieusus (Jesus) is a combination of 2 mythical deities, IEU and SUS
(ZEUS, a Greek god).” – (www.wwyd.org).

The response to this statement (which has as much support as the
latest Elvis sightings) is quite simple: We know where the name
I­­esous came from: the Jewish Septuagint! In other words, this
was not some later, pagan corruption of the Savior’s name; rather,
it was the natural Greek way of rendering the Hebrew/Aramaic
name Yeshua at least two centuries before His birth, and it is the
form of the name found in more than 5,000 Greek manuscripts of
the New Testament. This is saying something! The name I­­esous
is also found in Greek writings outside the New Testament and
dating to that same general time frame.

Although it is claimed that the Encyclopedia Britannica says that
“the name Ieusus (Jesus) is a combination of 2 mythical deities,
IEU and SUS (ZEUS, a Greek god)” it actually says no such thing.
This is a complete fabrication, intentional or not. In short, as one
Jewish believer once stated, “Jesus is as much related to Zeus as
Moses is to mice.”

Unfortunately, some popular teachers continue to espouse the
Jesus-Zeus connection, and many believers follow the pseudo-
scholarship in these fringe, “new revelation” teachings. Not only
are these teachings and practices filled with error, but they do not
profit in the least. So, to every English-speaking believer I say: Do
not be ashamed to use the name JESUS! That is the proper way
to say his name in English—just as Michael is the correct English
way to say the Hebrew name mi-kha-el and Moses is the correct
English way to say the Hebrew name mo-sheh. Pray in Jesus’
name, worship in Jesus’ name, and witness in Jesus’ name. And
for those who want to relate to our Messiah’s Jewishness, then
refer to him by His original name Yeshua—not Yahshua and not
Yahushua—remembering that the power of the name is not in its
pronunciation but in the person to whom it refers, our Lord and
Redeemer and King. (emphasis mine – 8thday4life)

SOURCE-
askdrbrown.org/ask-dr-brown/35-ask-dr-brown/79-what-is-the-original-
hebrew-name-for-jesus-and-is-it-true-that-the-name-jesus-greek-isssous-is-
really-a-pagan-corruption-of-the-name-zeus

Another excellent resource:

http://how2becomeachristianinfoblog.com/2008/10/19/deception-of-the-sacred-name-cults/